"Parks & Recreation" shows us how to fix our education system

How Leslie Knope’s ideas of management can change the way our Indian higher education system operates

A hearty shout out to all the Parks & Rec fans out there! I’m sure everyone who has watched the awesome TV show, would agree with me on this -beneath all the silly, sometimes-mindless comedy, it is a show that leaves you thinking about how to lead a good life filled with passion, goals and just pure zest. Every time I watch it, I’m left thinking about it with an entirely new perspective. This time, I figured there were so many simple, yet powerful messages a few episodes sent across and they strongly resonated with me.

So, this post is my attempt at breaking down the different elements of what makes this show so fantastic & how we can think about how implementing some of these principles into our education system. Why education, you ask? Well, because it needs some heavy-lifting now more than ever & it’s high time we address it. 

“Never half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing”

 Ron Swanson gives Leslie this piece of advice when she finds herself juggling between various assignments, her work with the Parks & Rec department & running for city council. 

Lesson for the education system: #1

The Central government & the State government are always locking horns about funding, quality, access of education. They are hardly ever on the same page about what the priority is.

Education, a subject of national importance has been a concurrent subject since 1950. Higher education is a subject of shared responsibility of the State and the Centre. But they have always exercised these responsibilities in different areas. While the Central government paid attention to quality higher education, the State governments have stressed upon expansion of access rather than on quality. Producing less expensive and low-quality higher education institutes to increase access have been proven to be more politically rewarding for the State governments. Due to budgetary constraints, coupled with popular pressures, states push for expansion of higher education institutions. The asymmetry of the federal system has led to a constant friction between the Centre and the State about the utilization of funds and misplaced priorities. While both quantity & quality are of equal importance for a fast-growing education sector like ours, it is of paramount importance for both the entities to work to prioritize, plan & execute.

Meaningful partnership. Always.

Almost every single episode in the show talks about team effort, identifying strengths & simply the joy that comes out of working together.

Lesson for the education system: #2:

While the Central government complains that states are not doing enough to implement the national programmes such as universal elementary education or allocation of 6% of GDP to education, the state governments complain about how they are strong-handed into implementing uniform schemes, restricting the need for tailoring to the local needs. Although this has brought down the inter-state disparities with respect to per capita expenditure and enrollment ratio, the inequalities remain high. Our constitution strengthens the role of the Central government, despite Education being a concurrent subject. In contrast, the US constitution declares Education to be a state subject. Even in the absence of any constitutional obligation for this purpose, the federal government takes definitive interest in making scholarships & fellowships available in Higher education & for improvement of teacher education. The federal aid is given without any federal control. This is the meaningful partnership which needs to be advocated in case of Indian Higher education system too.

Keeping the community in mind

The show shows us the sort of positive impact people in the local government can make if it is empowered and given the right resources to operate. It shows us how enforcing useful programs/policies such as soda tax, sex education was staunchly opposed, hence proving the need & preferences of the community plays a vital role in creating any program.

Lesson for the education system: #3

A subject such as higher education is highly community-oriented. Research in the US have shown that, policies related to education need to be stitched based on 4 distinct factors – Educational load, ability, effort & achievement. Educational load - denotes the number of children to be educated per 1000 of population. Ability – like the name states, is the ability of the community to support education, measured by their taxable capacity. Effort – It is the percentage of its taxable capacity spent on education. Achievement – it is measured by the standard of education. Thus, the variations are high between villages, cities & states. Thus, blanket education schemes across the country will not yield the intended results. Ideally, the State government must use these metrics to create its own education packages for its districts. The funding provided by the Central government should be carefully calibrated on these metrics, to equalize education across the country. The Central government should only nudge the States to think along these lines by providing achievable targets & incentives to reach the targets. This bottom-up approach empowers the local government & the State government to make their own decisions & navigate towards their end goal at their own pace.

Conclusion

30 million students, 40,760 colleges and 757 universities. Let those numbers sink in for a while. That’s how large the Indian Higher education system is – the third largest in the world. The student population was much lower than 200,000 in 1947. In 6 decades, it has grown more than 150 times. “Explosive growth”, you say? Despite that, only 23.6% of the Indian 18-23 age-group have access to education or choose to pursue higher education. We’re on the path to equalizing education, but we still have a long journey ahead of us. Like Leslie Knope, it is quintessential to never lose sight of the goal and work relentlessly towards it. Parks & Rec gives you a lot more than laughter, it reminds you of your priorities and inspires you to do the right thing! Ought to take a lesson or two from it!

References:
http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/JPNaik_01.pdf
http://www.nuepa.org/New/download/Publications/Occasional_Paper-50_Prof.JBGTilak.pdf